GREGG Wallace and John Torode prepare for a new series of MasterChef.

Since 1990, some of the country’s best amateur cooks have baked, grilled and flambéed their way to become the champion of MasterChef.

The BBC series, presided over by John Torode and Gregg Wallace, is known as one of TV’s toughest reality shows and huge audiences tune in to see just who can keep their cool when the heat is on.

It’s great, as people are coming out of their own homes and from all walks of lives, and they don’t know if they’re any good or not. Food isn’t their lives

Gregg Wallace

As Saturday magazine sits down for a chat with the two judges ahead of the new series, we ask whether they will be going easier on the contestants this time around.

“We used to have the ‘invention test’, where contestants were given a selection of products and asked to make something from it,” reflects Gregg. “The chefs were so nervous during the test, they were doomed to fail. Now we have the ‘calling card’ test, which I think is kinder. They feel more comfortable cooking their own meals.”

BBC

MasterChef is TV’s known as one of the toughest reality shows

The pair stress that they try not to be rude about the food placed in front of them, too.

“People often ask us if we want to say something is disgusting, but that’s a rude thing to do,” says Gregg, 50. “There’s no need for it – you just have to pick out the bits you do like and then question the bits you don’t.”

“When, as an adult, have you spat out food you don’t like and told the cook it’s disgusting?” adds John, 49. “Our job is to give feedback. People are really pushing themselves.”

In fact, there are plenty of new techniques and skills on display this year and John explains that a big trend was pressure-cooking.

“Pressure cookers are massive,” he says, “and there’s a lot of people using cuts of meat that haven’t been used for a long time – shins, duck legs, bone marrow…And in their bid to show how adventurous they are, a few chefs make a bit of a meal of it.

“There’s one episode, in particular, where I’ve never seen so much mess by two men in my whole life,” laughs John. “They covered the benches, floor, walls and sinks with food. All they made was two plates.”

Despite also presenting MasterChef: The Professionals, Gregg admits that he finds the amateur competition the most enjoyable. “It’s great, as people are coming out of their own homes and from all walks of lives, and they don’t know if they’re any good or not. Food isn’t their lives,” he says.

John adds, “Celebrity MasterChef is hilarious, though. If you do a group challenge with amateurs, it will be successful as they look out for one another. If you do the same thing with the celebs, it doesn’t work – they all look after themselves!”

Both Gregg and John admit that, over the course of the series, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell people they’re going home.

“You can’t help but like some people more than others and when they go out, it’s a real shame,” says Gregg. “We’ve pushed them through the heats, so when we have to cut them loose it’s not nice.”

John continues, “For me, the most difficult thing is still when they go from four to three. Imagine how difficult it is if you don’t get to cook for the final. I get very weepy in front of the contestants. They’ve worked very hard and it’s a really tough gig.”

Over the course of the series, the cooking contestants are whittled down from 40 to the finalists – who, this year, get to cook at the 250th-anniversary dinner for the Bristol Old Vic theatre, as well as flying to Mexico City to cook at top restaurant Pujol.

While out in Mexico, John and Gregg did something quite unusual for them – they went out for lunch. Though they are clearly close friends, both find it hard to schedule regular meet-ups away from MasterChef.

“We see a lot of each other when we’re filming,” says John, “but we have different lives and as years have gone by that’s how it’s fallen. We have a great relationship, though.”

“We’ve never written any rules about it,” continues Gregg. “Our two dressing rooms are next to each other on the MasterChef set and the doors are always open. If there’s anything going on, we’ll always sit and chat about it. We had a fantastic lunch together in Mexico, but it wasn’t planned.”

That said, when Gregg marries his fiancée, Anne-Marie Sterpini, later this year, John will be the best man.

“I’m doing the entire speech in jokes,” laughs John. “Every single one of Gregg’s jokes is coming out in that speech. It will be three-and-a-half hours long.”